Devlin: A Moving Picture – review

Saturday 9 February 2013 19.05 EST
First published on Saturday 9 February 2013 19.05 EST

When Dagenham born and bred Devlin scoffs: "I ain't chirpy, I'm dirty" on A Gift & a Curse, he's pretty much articulating the problem that fellow grime MCs – Dizzee, Tinchy et al – have had to negotiate: the way that major label success demands party tunes. Credits on this second album include Sussex pop star Ed Sheeran, who's about as street as an M&S sausage roll, and there's plenty of widescreen, orchestral-surge production to match the look-how-far-we've-come sentiment, but Devlin remains most compelling in scowling underdog mode, spitting bitter threats as on The Garden and Off With Their Heads.